Oxford Village officials are considering enacting new fees and raising existing fees for a variety services and facilities provided by the municipality.
This proposed list, compiled by village Manager Joe Young, will be the subject of a 6:30 p.m. Tuesday, July 14 public hearing in the council chambers located at 22 W. Burdick St. (See public notice on Page 18.)
It’s no secret village officials believe the municipality is in dire need of more revenue and Young said raising fees and charges was discussed as a potential option when council was formulating the 2015-16 budget, which takes effect July 1.
By far, the largest proposed increases are related to what the village charges for new customers to connect to its water and sewer systems.
Young recommended doubling all of them.
For example, right now, the village charges a $700 tap fee, plus a $900 capital charge for hooking up a new ?-inch residential water line.
Young proposed they be increased to $1,400 for the tap fee and $1,800 for the capital charge.
Under his proposal, commercial and industrial users connecting to the water system would go from paying a $1,000 tap fee and a $1,200 capital charge to shelling out $2,000 for the tap fee and $2,400 for the capital charge.
Residential sewer tap fees would go from $2,000 to $4,000, while commercial/industrial tap fees would increase from $2,000 to $5,000.
Sewer capital charges would go from $800 to $1,600 for new residential users, while new commercial/industrial users would see them increase from $1,500 to $3,000.
With regard to facilities, the village is looking at charging residents, non-residents, businesses and nonprofits for the rental of Centennial and Scripter parks for public and private events.
Currently, there’s no charge for using either park, however, Young indicated renting Centennial requires a $100 deposit, which gets refunded provided none of it is needed to pay for damages or cleanup.
Under the manager’s proposal, village residents renting either park for events or classes of a for-profit or fee-based nature would be charged an hourly rate of $25. Non-residents would pay $35 per hour.
Renting the park for non-profit and private events that have no fees associated with them would cost $10 per hour for village residents and $20 per hour for non-residents.
These same hourly rates would apply to the rental of the village’s community room and council chambers, both located inside the W. Burdick St. municipal complex.
Currently, there’s no charge for renting either of these rooms.
Increases in certain police fees are included in the manager’s proposal.
Copies of incident/accident reports would continue to be free to village residents, however, the fee for non-residents would increase from a flat $5 to $7 for the first page and $1 for each page after that.
Right now, village police don’t charge for responding to false alarms generated by security systems.
That would change under Young’s proposal.
The first time would remain free, however, the charges for subsequent false alarms would start at $25 for the second call and increase by $25 increments until the $100 maximum was reached for the fifth call and beyond.
The village is also considering charging for services and items that are currently free to the public.
Examples include charging $5 to have documents notarized, $3 for copies of property tax bills, $5 for copies of meeting agenda packets in either paper or digital form and $5 for audio recordings of meetings.